I. Historical Portal for Overseas Trade of China

The term Silk Road appeared first in Book I of China:The Results of My Travels and the Studies Based Thereon, written in 1887 by Ferdinand von Richthofen, a German geographer. The term was employed to indicate the trade route on land between Northwest China and Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia, Africa, Europe and other places. After the second century B.C.E., Chinese silk and silk woven products were transported in large quantity via this route to the West, hence, the "Silk Road". Also transported along the trading route were Chinese porcelain, spices, tea among other products: hence the name the "Road of Porcelain", "Road of Spices" and"Road of Tea". The exchange between the East and the West also took the route by sea, namely, the Maritime Silk Road: starting from the Southeastern coast of China, via the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca, sailing west. Another option includes taking the route on land via Yunnan and Myanmar, and then turned west to the sea route, arriving at Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Africa and Europe.

Over some two thousand years, the ancient Maritime Silk Road extended across some hundred thousand miles, through several different courses of development in the world history. This development can be divided into five stages: the formation stage of the Qin and Han dynasties, growth during the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties, flourishing during the Sui and Tang dynasties, reaching its peak during the Song and Yuan dynasties, and undergoing transitions during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Over thousands of years, ships came and went, connecting trade and business, linking human activities and the Maritime Silk Road generated a profound impact on the societies and the economy of the countries along the Road and on China itself.

There are indivisible historical origins between Guangzhou and the ancient Maritime Silk Road. Originally named Panyu, Guangzhou is situated on the Pearl River by the coast of the South China Sea. With the ocean surrounding it to the east, rivers converging on it and mountains embracing it from behind, Guangzhou is an ideal coastal-estuary port, connecting rivers and the sea. Since ancient times,Guangzhou has been the trading and cultural center of the Lingnan region. With its ideal geographic location and profound trading and cultural crossroads, Guangzhou became the cradle for the ancient Maritime Silk Road and is thus critical to the history of the ancient Maritime Silk Road.

Located along the coast of the South China Sea, Guangzhou's early inhabitants, the Nanyue natives, acquired skilled nautics and were engaged in seasonal oceanic production activities as early as the late New Stone Age, some four to five thousand years ago. Huai Nan Zi, a historical document written in the Western Han dynasty, records that "Hu people (the Northern barbarians) are skilled horsemen and the Yue people are skilled boatmen". It goes on to note that the Yue people were "good at fighting in water and nimble at boating". The archaeological resources prove that during the Pre-Qin Period the Nanyue people had already acquired certain shipbuilding and ocean navigation skills. And during the Qin and Han dynasties, shipbuilding technology developed rapidly. Their shipyard site was discovered in Guangzhou Zhongshan 4th Road in 1975 and indicates that some larger docks could make wooden ships of 50-60 tons. Meanwhile, the various pottery models of vessels unearthed from the Han Tombs in Guangzhou further confirm the level of shipbuilding in Guangzhou during the Qin and Han dynasties, which in turn provided conditions for maritime transportation and trade.

Historical documents record that Panyu at this time had already become a renowned metropolis in China and one of the largest port cities in Lingnan. When the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty, Qin Shihuang, launched an attack on Lingnan, he was actually aiming to seize rhinoceros horn, ivory, jade and gems. Panyu thus enjoyed its fame as a distribution center of overseas treasures even before Emperor Qin Shihuang unified Nanyue. Sima Qian in the chapter, "Biographies of Merchants"in Historical Records recounts that "Panyu is also a big city, with markets trading in gems, rhinoceros, tortoise, fruits and cloths." Lü Simian, a well-known, modern historian observed that the trading scenes described by Sima Qian in Panyu occurred not just from the Han dynasty on, but "[b]efore the opening of Luliang, there were already merchant ships coming from overseas to Jiaozhou and Guangzhou". Panyu had already become a distribution center of overseas rarities. Luliang was the ancient name for Lingnan. Most of the goods distributed in Panyu came from overseas and only by the opening of business channels and maritime traffic could the goods reach Panyu, thus developing it as a port city.

The archaeological discovery in the Tomb of King Wen of Nanyue Kingdom unearthed in 1983 confirmed the above records. Persian silver boxes, frankincense from the Red Sea area, whole-tusk ivories from Africa, lacquered boxes, sandalwood burners and glassware , all imported from overseas. This confirms the trading relationship between Guangzhou and Persia and the East Coast of Africa at a time even earlier than that of Nanyue Kingdom. The name Panyu—the original name of Guangzhou has further "foreign" implications. Panyu originally was called "fanyu"("fan" meaning "foreign"). In Chinese, "fan" people, "fan" country, "fan" ship, or"fan" residence, are all related to the Chinese character of "foreign". The name Fanyu itself then, testifies to the existence of overseas exchange between Guangzhou and abroad during the Qin and Han dynasties.

The earliest mention of the shipping lines of the Maritime Silk Road can be found in Geography contained in Book of the Han. The Book records Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty having sent envoys with recruited merchants and sailors who sailed from Xuwen, Hepu, and Rinan, from Beibu Bay, entering Malay Peninsula, Bangladesh Bay, and finally reaching Kancipuram (now in India) and Sihakipa (now Sri Lanka) in the south of the India Peninsula. They traded pearls, gems and rare stones for gold and silk fabrics. After opening the Maritime Silk Road from the coasts of South China to India and Sri Lanka, China began an indirect silk trading via sea routes with Africa and Europe. Panyu was thus a global hub and distribution center for China through the South China Sea.

At the time of the Eastern Han dynasty, Chinese merchants sailing from Guangzhou started to trade directly with Roman merchants in India and Sri Lanka. Gaius Plinius Secundus,an ancient Roman scientist,in his Natural History,recounts the trading activities of Chinese merchants in India and Sri Lanka. These merchants had their own warehouses in Coromandel and Sri Lanka in the east of the South India and traded at Arikamedu Port with Greek and Roman merchants; barter transactions of this kind helped build the direct route between China and the West and form the Maritime Silk Road. In 166, the Ninth Year of Yanxi, during the reign of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han dynasty, the Roman Empire sent envoys sailing directly to Panyu. Friedrich Hirth, a German scholar of the late 19th century believed that trade between China and Rome and other countries started before the 3rd century A.C.E., with Guangzhou and nearby locations as their maritime destinations; thus Guangzhou was, by then, already a maritime trade hub.

In short, Panyu had already become a crucial port of China's Maritime Silk Road during the Qin and Han dynasties. The Maritime Silk Road started from Panyu, Xuwen and Hepu ports and reached outward to Southeast Asia and the wider world. With this development of foreign trade, the gathering of merchants from home and abroad and the central availability of goods from different countries, Guangzhou became a trading metropolis known to the world.

During the time of the Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, Guangzhou was separated from Jiaozhou as Guangzhou had already become a major Chinese port with direct sail routes to overseas and enjoyed its central status in the traffic of the South China Sea. Ships started from Guangzhou, crossed the Strait of Malacca, Bangladesh Bay, the Arabian Sea into the Persian Gulf, en route to the Euphrates or the Red Sea, and transshipped to the Mediterranean.

The Sui dynasty ended the 300-year-long split in China; in 594, the 14th Year of Kaihuang, Emperor Wen ordered the building of the Nanhai God Temple at Fuxu Kou in the Huangmu Bay, 80 miles to the southeast of Guangzhou (today's Miaotou Village, Huangpu), granting the Nanhai Sea God the title of Zhurong, who reigned over the four Sea Gods of the north, south, east and west. Ritual tributes to the Nanhai Sea God continue to this day. Ships from China and abroad rarely departed without coming to pay their respects and pray for a smooth voyage and safe journey the Nanhai Sea God Temple has witnessed the flourishing of Guangzhou maritime trade through several different dynasties.

In the Tang dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road proved a major pathway linking China with the West. Guangzhou enjoyed its fame not only as the premier eastern port of the Maritime Silk Road, but also earned world fame as a grand trading port. Jia Dan, a minister in the court of Emperor Dezong of the Tang dynasty during the years of Zhenyuan, described the famous "Guangzhou Sea Route Leading to Foreign Countries" with its shipping line starting from Guangzhou, through the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean all the way to the Persian Gulf, the south coast of East Africa, passing more than 30 countries and regions, totaled 14, 000 kilometers. This was the longest ocean line in the world before the 16th century. Merchants of various countries congregated as ships came and met.

During the Song dynasty, Guangzhou maintained its pattern of full prosperity as the oriental center of international maritime trade. Evidence to such is revealed in sayings such as "Panyu is the treasure bowl" and "Guangzhou gathers all treasures". After the Yuan dynasty, Guangzhou continued to be regarded as a port city with booming international trade. In 1322, the 2nd year of Emperor Zhizhi of the Yuan dynasty, Friar Odoric, a traveler from Italy was so impressed by Guangzhou that he wrote: "The number of Guangzhou port's ships is enormous and appears incredible to some people. Indeed, the ships of all Italy counted would not be as many as such from that single city". He also acknowledged that the size of Guangzhou was three times bigger than that of Venice, the famous city of the Medieval Era.

The Ming dynasty implemented a ban on overseas maritime trade and in 1557, the 36th year of Emperor Jiajing, the Portuguese opened a commercial port in Macau as an outer port for Canton trade. In a very short time the Portuguese turned Macau into an entrepot for international trade between East and West, thus creating a dual structure centered in Guangzhou-Macau, continuing to link Guangzhou evermore closely with global maritime trade.

In the Qing dynasty, after the Court's pacification of Taiwan and the three southern vassal states, Emperor Kangxi lifted the ban on maritime trade with the outside world in 1685, in the 24th year of his reign, and set up four customs offices in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. In the next year, the Hong (foreign firms) system was founded in Guangzhou and the Thirteen Hongs ("factories") soon dominated international trade in Guangzhou. In 1757, the 22nd years of Qianlong, the Qing court further regulated its foreign trade to be centered in Guangzhou alone, hence the city's "one port trading" status in Chinese history, which led to a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity in Guangzhou, the "mountains of gold and sea of pearls, the southern treasury of the emperor". Such prosperity continued until the outbreak of the Opium Wars.

In the history of the development of the ancient grand ports of China and the world, a great number have declined over time, such as the Chinese ports of Yangzhou, Quanzhou or Mingzhou. It is a very rare phenomenon that Guangzhou has withstood the test of time and continued to prosper through international trade for over 2, 000 years, maintaining its status as a global trading hub to this day.